


I'd give up forever to touch you

by Loor



Category: British Actor RPF, Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF, Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Virgin OFC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-16
Updated: 2014-12-17
Packaged: 2018-03-01 19:42:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2785400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loor/pseuds/Loor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iris meet Tom Hiddleston and Michael Fassbender in a bar in Paris. Smut follows. Kind of...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Oh my God, I cannot believe you did that!”

A voice sounded loud and clear through the bar, causing several people to look in the direction it was coming from annoyed. The girl didn’t even notice, or if she did, she didn’t care. She was too excited about the story her friend was telling, she had no time to be concerned about what other people thought about her. 

When her friend nodded with a grin, she continued, “You are unbelievable! But then again, maybe I shouldn’t be too surprised, this is so typical you! Like that time when –“

The annoyed looks of people around her had not been enough to stop the girl from giggling and talking, but when she spotted a familiar face not too far away, it was enough to cut of whatever she had been meaning to say.

She only realized she was staring when a hand waved in from off her face and her friend called out, “Earth to Iris, earth to Iris. What was gotten into you?”

“Tom Hiddleston.”

The words caused her friend to choke on her drink. She coughed loudly a few times, before almost yelling, “Wait what? Who is this Tom and why didn’t I know about this. I am your best friend, I should be the first to know that you finally got laid.”

That finally got Iris’ attention and she quickly diverted her eyes from the guy she had been ogling in the distance to look at her friend. She smacked her arm and whispered, “The whole bar does not need to know about my sex life, Sophie. And don’t be ridiculous, I did not sleep with anybody. I just mean that I just spotted Tom Hiddleston.”

Sophie looked in the direction that Iris nodded in and recognition appeared in her eyes. “Oh, right. Isn’t he like your celebrity crush?” She smiled when Iris turned bright red and said, “You should totally go talk to him!”

“Have you gone mental? There’s no way I’m going to talk to him!”

An actual giggle left Sophie’s mouth at Iris’ reaction. “Oh come on, Iris, you totally should! Live a little, girlfriend!”

“Girlfriend? What are we, the eighties?” Iris questioned. 

“You’ll regret it if you don’t!” Sophie went on, ignoring Iris’ question. “What are the chances that we’ll see him again? I’m assuming it’s not every day that he is in Paris!”

Iris did her best to come up with an argument. It was nothing like her to walk up to celebrities just like that. Even at all the concerts she went to, she preferred to hang in the back and simply listen to the music. She liked to admire people from afar. But then again, Sophie had a valid point. The chances that Tom would appear in a bar in the middle of Paris without being surrounded by security ever again seemed pretty unlikely. 

When she sneaked another glance at Tom and watched him smile that perfect smile of his, Iris’ choice was made. “Hold this,” she announced as she handed her glass to Sophie.

Sophie mouth fell open briefly, before she exclaimed, “Oh my god, you are actually going to take my advice?”

“Well, you only live once, right?” Iris answered. “Yolo, or whatever you kids call it these days!” she teased Sophie with a wink. Sophie laughed out loud while she took over Iris’ glass.

With a smile on her face, Iris turned around. For a brief moment it seemed that Tom had disappeared, but then Iris spotted him at the bar where he was clearly asking the bartender for some drinks. It was the perfect moment to go talk to him, so Iris gathered all her courage and walked up to the bar.

It seemed like such a good idea when she had left Sophie behind, but by the time Iris was standing next to Tom at the bar, her courage was far gone. The fact that Tom politely smiled at her when he noticed her standing next to him didn’t make things any better.

Iris ordered another wine from the bartender to give herself some time to think. ‘Come on, get it together,’ she told herself.

When Iris saw that Tom was handed his order, she knew it was now or never. She gathered her courage and with a smile, she leaned in closer to Tom and asked, “Excuse me, can I ask you something?” She cringed at the way her nerves sounded through her voice.

Tom didn’t seem to notice her worries, or at least he was polite enough to act as if he didn’t. “Yes, of course darling,” he answered as he sent her another dazzling smile.

The smile almost made Iris forget why she was talking to him in the first place. She had to take a deep breath, before she was able to stutteringly say, “Well, uhm… I’m really so sorry to bother you. But I realized earlier that this is probably my only chance to ever meet you, so… Well, I hope it’s not an issue, but I was wondering if you could perhaps sign me an autograph?”

Tom grinned in response to her request. Iris wasn’t sure if she should take that as a good sign or not, but then he answered her, “If I wanted privacy I would have either stayed at my hotel or gone to some club where they rent out VIP sections. But I just wanted to go out and have a drink with some friends. If people recognize me in the process, so be it. So sure, darling. I’ll sign you an autograph.” 

Iris was already trying to find a pen in her purse, muttering, “Thank you, thank you so much!” when Tom added, “But on one condition.”

The words sounded like an afterthought, but when Iris looked up at Tom, she knew they were anything but. She raised an eyebrow at Tom in question.

“My friend has been unable to keep his eyes of you all night. And since it’s his birthday today, it would be wonderful if you could just go talk to him please.” Tom explained. Iris was impressed by how confident he sounded. Another person would have been nervous asking such a thing, but Tom’s voice never even wavered. It almost came across as cocky.

As Iris looked in the direction that Tom’s thumb directed her, she gasped. And then she let out a disbelieving snort. “Michael Fassbender is unable to keep his eyes of me?” she wanted to know. “I find that very hard to believe.”

“Why? I can assure you, Michael is a man of good taste,” Tom swiftly answered. His smoothness made Iris smile, his compliment made her blush.

She threw a glance in Michael’s direction again. There was another guy standing with him, who was telling something, but Michael clearly wasn’t listening. Instead Iris caught him giving her the once over. Not to her surprise, when their eyes met and he realized she had caught him checking her out, he didn’t even blush.

Iris didn’t really care for Michael all that much. Sure, she had seen him in X-Men and in Twelve Years A Slave, but that was more by accident than because she followed his career. But she had set her mind to that autograph from Tom, so with a simple, “Okay then, why not?” she agreed to go say hi to Michael. 

After Tom, being the gentleman that he was, had paid for her drink, he put a soft arm on her lower back and gently guided her through the crowd into Michael’s direction.

In the passing, Iris smiled to Sophie, who was watching her from afar. Iris knew Sophie would join them later if she spend enough time with the men, but for now she didn’t take any action to move yet, instead simply winking at Iris. Iris gave her an understanding not, showing that she appreciated the fact that her friend gave her a moment to spend some time alone with the two men.

When they arrived at the table Tom had leaded them to, Iris walked over to Michael with a big smile in her face. His posture made him quite impressive and his trademark smile didn’t make things any better. Before she could lost her nerve, she extended her hand in greeting and said, “Hi, I’m Iris. Your friend Tom mentioned it is your birthday today. So how about I buy the birthday boy a drink?”

Michael stayed completely true to his reputation. Instead of shaking Iris’ hand he immediately stepped into her personal space and bend down to press a kiss to her cheek. 

While Iris felt her cheek tingle where Michael had just kissed her, he bend down ever closer and all but growled into her ear, “Sure you can buy me a drink. But the next one is on me.” Unexpectedly, it made Iris quite weak in the knees.

When introductions were out of the way, alcohol started to flow freely. Iris made good on her promise to buy Michael a drink, but after that she didn’t get a chance to get out her wallet again. Michael treated her to not one, but several drinks. Tom and their other friend, who turned out to be producer that they had become friends with during a past movie shoot, also payed their fair share of the rounds. And even Sophie managed to buy them all a drink when she joined them eventually. 

Sophie called it a night a few hours later and left Iris in the hands of her new friends with a smile, but not before urging Iris to enjoy whatever the rest of the night brought her, but to be careful too. The producer said his goodbyes not much later. 

When the bar owner eventually came to ask them to leave because he wanted to close up, many hours and quite a few more drinks had passed. Iris was known to be able to hold her liquor quite well, but when the cold air outside the bar hit her, she felt the alcohol in her system start to work. She leaned toward Michael, who was more than happy to put an arm around her shoulder and press her into his chest to help keep her standing.

“I’ll call you a cab,” Tom announced while he pulled out his phone. Iris noticed how he subtly moved a bit closer to them, as if he was trying to shield them. When she heard a shutter click behind him, she realized paparazzi had found them and were trying to get some good shots. A feeling of discomfort fell over her and she leaned closer to Michael’s chest, as if that would hide her from the world.

“No mate, she coming with me for a night cap,” Michael interjected before Iris could answer. He looked down at the girl laying against his chest. “That is if you want to, lass. What do you say, one more drink?”

Somewhere in the back of her mind a voice shouted to Iris that this was not a good idea, but her limits were quite vague at the moment. And mostly she wanted to get away from the paparazzi, so she simply shrugged. “Sure, one more drink won’t hurt anybody.”

Tom looked at her unsure. He looked at Michael and then back to her and there was something in his eyes that Iris couldn’t quite place. It felt like worry. Or maybe just pity. But he clearly didn’t want to be a spoilsport and decided that his friend and his newest girl were both adults. So he didn’t say anything and called a cab for the three of them. 

When Iris and Michael made it up to his room, she was definitely impressed. He, however, didn’t bother leading her around. The first thing he said after taking of his jacket was, “I’ve got to take a piss. I’ll be right back, lass.” 

‘Ireland clearly isn’t part of Britain,’ Iris thought to herself while Michael disappeared into the bathroom and she sat down on the bed, still a little dizzy from all the alcohol. ‘Tom would’ve mentioned that in a more polite way.’

She had no idea why Tom suddenly popped up in her head and she didn’t get time to question it either. Because when Michael came out of the bathroom, his presence immediately demanded her attention again. His shirt was already out of hanging out of his pants and halfway undone. When Iris looked up at him, he looked back as if he was ready to devour her. She felt how the atmosphere in the room had changed. She suddenly felt very hot.

“You are so beautiful,” Michael told her from his spot in the opening of the bathroom door. 

“Let me guess,” Iris questioned him. “You say that to every girl you take up to your room?” She didn’t even know why she bothered asking him. Liquid courage must have kicked in again, because normally she would have never dared asking such a thing.

Michael grinned in response. “Only the ones I want to see naked,” he told her. After a short pause, he easily admitted, “So yeah, pretty much all of them yes.”

Iris knows she should be insulted. She shouldn’t be this easy. But the alcohol had faded her limits. She told herself that she had known all along, because Michael’s reputation preceded him. 

So before she realized what was happening, Michael was stalking over to her like predator to his prey. He hoisted her up from the bed, pulled her against his chest to stabilize her. And then he kissed her and Iris lost track of all thoughts she had. 

Even with her limited experience in kissing men, Iris knew Michael was a good kisser. He was dominant, but not pushy. He simply knew what he wanted and at that moment Iris was more than willing to give it to him. 

Soon Michael’s hands were all over her, feeling her up. And Iris couldn’t help but feel impressed by the way his one hand got lost in her hair while the other expertly unzipped her dress. She on the other hand had trouble coordinating her breathing at the same time as her hands, let alone she would be able to undress Michael in the process. 

Eventually Michael managed to undress the both of them. While attacking Iris’ neck, clearly trying to make sure she’ll have something to remember him by the coming week or so, he lead them to the bed. 

Iris’ knees buckled when they hit the bed and she found herself staring up at Michael. “Stay here,” he told her with another predatory grin. 

Iris didn’t move much, but she did lean up on her elbows to get a good view at Michael as he walked away stark naked. Iris would have guessed he was fit, but his actual physique exceeded expectations. His form was lean but toned, yet not too much. His ass was firm and as he walked away she could see the muscles move in his calves. 

And then it hit her. When her eyes moved upward over his form, she saw him grab a packet out of his suitcase. He fished out a condom. The sight immediately sobered Iris up quite a bit. It was as if she only know realized what was about to happen. And at the same time she couldn’t believe this was happening. This was nothing like her and it was hard to believe that the alcohol had made her come here.

She didn’t get much time to question her actions, because soon enough Michael was at the side of the bed again. Iris made a move to sit up, but Michael’s strong hands pushed her back onto the mattress. “Stay down and be a good girl,” he whispered in her ear. “You don’t want me to tie you up, do you?”

Michael probably thought the words were enticing. And Iris was sure that for some people they were. But for her they caused a knee jerk reaction. She used all the strength she had to push Michael away and get up from the bed. 

Michael got left on the bed a bit stunned as Iris paced up and down the room. Her face was buried in her hands and she repeatedly exclaimed, “Shit, shit, shit.” 

When she finally managed to stand still for longer than a second, she let out a deep sigh. A few deep breaths and then she turned to Michael and said, “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. But I don’t think I can do this.”

Michael sat up a bit and slowly asked, “What do you mean?” He didn’t seem insulted in the slightest, but genuinely confused.

His gaze was fixed on Iris and it made her very uncomfortable. As if she realized only know that she was buttnaked. She did her best to cover herself up with her hands, stuttering as she did her best to explain the situation. “It’s not… Well, you see… I… God, you must think I’m such a tease!” she gets out. “But it’s not… I… How to say…”

It is hard for Iris to continue speaking. Tears were appearing at the rims of her eyes and she was shivering. Eventually, after a few deep breaths, she managed to get out, “I’m still a virgin, Michael.”

“What?” Michael’s reaction was surprised, of course, and sharp. He might have not meant it that way, but for Iris it felt like a lash from a whip and it definitely left a mark. It might not be a visible mark, but his words still hurt. Not that Iris had expected another reaction. She was nearing her thirties, the last thing people expected of her was that she was a virgin. 

And yet, here she was. Naked, in bed with a gorgeous guy and realizing this clearly wasn’t where she should be. It had taken her so long now, she wanted to lose her virginity to someone who actually cared, not some random one night stand. No matter how handsome he looked.

As soon as that thought crossed her mind, Iris knew her decision was made. This was not going to be the night her cherry got popped.

Michael was still sitting on the bed and Iris wasn’t sure if he was just surprised or didn’t know what to say to her. She didn’t bother finding out. But she disliked awkward silences very much, so she started rambling while gathering her clothes and getting dressed. “God, this should have never happened. This is nothing like me. I shouldn’t have drunk this much. This was such a mistake,” she rambled while pulling on her underwear. While she pulled her dress over her head, she continued, “You must think I’m ridiculous.” 

She grabbed her purse from a chair in the corner of the room and then she finally turned to look at Michael again. He was still sitting on the bed, the sheets wrapped around his lower body now. He wasn’t looking at her and when she stopped talking he didn’t say anything to break the silence again.

Iris took it as a sign that he simply wanted her to go before things got even more awkward and weird. “I’m sorry, I’m really sorry for ruining your night like this,” she apologized one last time while making her way to the door.

She left the door open a chink as she left the room. Part of her still hoped that Michael would come to his senses again and come after her. Part of her wanted Michael to be the guy that told her it was okay, that he wasn’t bothered by the fact that she was still a virgin. 

When she stood waiting for the elevator, she kept sneaking glances down the hallway in the direction of the slightly opened door. Her heart suddenly jumped as she heard footsteps. But then the door closed completely, with Michael still nowhere to be seen. And Iris knew for sure that he would not be coming after her. So she stepped into the elevator as soon as it opened, doing her best to keep the tears from floating down her cheeks.

She managed to stop herself from crying during the elevator ride down and made it halfway through the lobby before a voice resonated through it. “Iris?”

The voice made her stop dead in her tracks. She would recognize it anywhere. It belonged to the person had made her laugh out loud more than once this evening. But also to the person that had pushed her into Michael’s direction in the first place. Of all the people in the hotel, Tom freaking Hiddleston had to be the one sitting at the hotel bar in the middle of the night. At the moment that she wanted to not speak to anyone and most definitely not to him. She hesitated for a split second, but then walked on without turning around. 

As it turned out, however, Tom was a lot more persistent than his friend that Iris had left behind upstairs. She soon heard footsteps behind her. She did her best to walk as quickly as she could and for a moment she thought she would actually reach the door before Tom could catch up with her. But then, just as her hand settled on the door handle, Iris felt Tom’s hand gently grip her shoulder.

Slowly she turned around. Her gaze avoided Tom. She simply waited to see what he wanted.

“Are you okay?” he asked. 

Iris’ eyes shut up to meet his in surprise. It struck her that he didn’t ask about Michael, where he was or if the guy was okay. He simply wanted to know about her. There seemed to be genuine concern in those blue orbs of his. Enough emotion to sweep Iris of her feet for a moment.

Seconds had passed while Iris collected her thoughts again, doing her very best to not get lost in the deep blue sea in those eyes. But when she was able to focus again, Tom was still there. A hand gently on her shoulder and waiting for an answer.

“I’m fine,” Iris insisted. At this moment she really just wanted to go home, crawl up in a ball in her bed and maybe, probably, cry a little.

But Tom clearly wasn’t willing to let go of the topic so easily. “You don’t look fine,” he told her. The words didn’t come out as an insult, Tom simply stated the facts in front of him.

Iris let out a sigh. One look at Tom told her he wouldn’t be letting her go without a proper answer. So her hand let go of the door handle and she turned around to properly face him. 

She took a moment to think how she was going to phrase this. Eventually, after another deep sigh, she went for, “I just feel kind of bad for leaving Michael like this. He doesn’t really deserve the way I left him hanging the way I did.” She paused for a moment, before admitting, “But I just couldn’t do it. This is not me. I’m not the girl who dives in bed with a guy drunk. I’m not even a girl for one night stands.”

As the words left her mouth Iris realized she wasn’t exactly telling Tom the truth. She wasn’t lying either, but she very well realized that she was leaving out some details of what really went down in Michael’s room. But she didn’t feel guilty in the least. She just thought some things didn’t need to be shared. She didn’t feel the need to tell Tom she was still a virgin.

It all sounded a bit unconvincing to Iris and for a few long seconds she thought Tom would ask more questions. But then he smiled, seeming satisfied with her explanation. “I can imagine how that shakes up a person,” he said with a nod. “Sorry I bothered you like that. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

His words put a small smile at Iris’ face. Of course he was apologizing for actions that didn’t require an apology at all. ‘Once a British gentleman, always a British gentleman,’ she thought to herself. 

“You have nothing to apologize for, Tom. It’s sweet of you to even care at all,” she assured the man. “But if you don’t mind, I really just would like to go home now.”

“Of course. Of course,” Tom nodded in understanding. He stepped past Iris and pushed open the door with a smile. “Your carriage awaits milady. I wish you a pleasant rest of your night!” Tom said with the smile firm on his face, while he gestured with his arm as if to lead the way outside.

His words weren’t cold yet, when Iris let out a loud curse. “Shit!” she muttered when she realized what time it actually was. There was no way the underground was still driving at this hour.

“I need to call a cab,” she explained to Tom when she stepped away from the door and started walked towards the reception desk. She hoped there was still someone awake who could help her to an number of a cab company. 

“Stay with me.”

Again Tom’s words managed to make her stop dead in her tracks. She turned around slowly, quirked up one eyebrow and asked, “Excuse me?”

Much to her surprise, Tom actually flushed. His cheeks turned beet red and in the next moment he was profusely apologizing again. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it in any way sexual. I mean, I would totally sleep with you, because you are beautiful! Oh dear, I am making this worse,” he rambled. A hand was buried in his short hair. Scratching the skin as if it would help him make more sense of things. “What I mean is,” he tried again. “I have a kingsize bed in my room. It’s pretty big, we are both adults here. A cab is probably going to cost loads of money. So if you want to, you can stay in my room for the night.”

A small smile had appeared on Iris’ face while Tom had been talking. His rambling was quite endearing, almost adorable even. And most importantly, he was right. Calling a cab at this time of night would cost a lot more then she wanted to spend on a ride home. And she didn’t feel like waiting another thirty minutes at least for the ride to arrive. 

She probably shouldn’t give in this easily, not after what happened with Michael earlier. But Tom really did not seem to have any bad intentions. So she nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yes Tom, okay. You are right.” Iris said. “I’ll take you up on your offer.”

Tom shot her a bright smile and waved his arm towards the elevators, “This way then, milady.”

The rest of the night was quite uneventful. Tom was as much of a gentleman as could be expected. He let her use his beautiful bathroom for as long as she wanted. He made sure she was comfortable in the bed, had enough blankets and was happy with the pillow. And he happily let her borrow one of his shirt to sleep in. It all caused Iris to fall asleep with a smile on her face and the smell of Tom’s cologne in her nose. A happy ending to her night after all.


	2. Chapter 2

When she woke up the next morning, much to her surprise and delight, Iris wasn’t as hungover as she had expected to be. The sun was shining and she knew that all she needed was a hot shower to feel somewhat decent again.

And that was exactly what she was doing when in the main room a knock sounded on the door. Iris turned down the water and started soaping in her hair when she heard a distinct voice, “Good morning, Hiddleston!” It made her stop with her hands still in her hair.

“Morning Fassbender!” Tom’s voice could be heard from the bedroom. “What brings you here this early? Shouldn’t you be with your lady friend who accompanied you to your room last night?”

‘He sure cuts right to the case,’ Iris thought to herself as she slowly started soaping her hair again. It wasn’t lost on her how Tom’s voice didn’t sound pleased.

“Yeah, that didn’t really go as planned,” Michael said. Iris could almost hear him shrug his shoulders. “She seemed so totally into it. But then I had her undressed and after I grabbed a condom she suddenly freaked and shoved me away. And before I knew what was happening, she was dressed against and out and on her way.”

Iris let out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding. Relief washed over her because Michael didn’t even mention the reason she had freaked out.

“And then what?” Tom asked. 

In her head Iris could see Michael frown as he asked, “What do you mean and then what? I closed the door after her and went to bed.”

Iris could hear how Tom smacked Michael’s arm. “You didn’t talk about it? You didn’t go after her?” There was a short pause and Iris assumed Michael was shaking his head in denial. “You’re an idiot, you know that?”

“Oh come on, Hiddles. Don’t make such a big deal out of this. We were drunk, she seemed interesting enough, that’s it.”

“But what, she wasn’t really your type for the long run?” Tom sounded angry, and it secretly pleased Iris very much that he was taking a stand for her.

Michael clearly wasn’t troubled by the situation and easily answered, “Not really no.” 

The room was filled with silence for a moment. And then Michael spoke at again. “Oh.” It was so quiet that at first Iris thought it had been only a fidget of her imagination. Then he repeated, “Oh. I see. She was your type, wasn’t she?” 

Again, silence filled the room and Iris found herself holding her breath. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear Tom’s answer. Not after the lovely night she got to spend in his bed. 

“Oh my god, she actually was!” Michael answered Iris’ unasked question anyway. She could only imagine how Tom was looking now. Was he blushing? Was he going to deny it? 

“But then…” Michael wondered before Iris had much time to think about it. “Then why did you send her to me?”

Tom took a while to answer and when he did, his voice sounded wary. “You had been eyeing her all night, mate. And it was your birthday.” Was it regret that Iris heard in his voice?

“Seemed like we’re both idiots then,” Michael responded. He was clearly a lot less worried about the whole situation than Tom was.

“Something like that, yes.” Tom’s words were quiet, almost a whisper. Iris had to strain to make out what he was saying.

“Well, what’s done is done,” Michael said. Iris heard a small bump and figured that Michael had just bumped Tom’s arm in an effort to cheer up his friend a bit. “No use crying over spilled milk, or however the saying goes. Or well, non-spilled milk in my case!” He laughed out loud.

There came no response from Tom and Iris wasn’t exactly surprised. She hadn’t expected this to be Tom’s kind of humor. 

When Tom didn’t react, Michael stopped laughing as well. “Want to go for breakfast?” he asked instead.

Iris decided that she had heard enough. She finally stopped shampooing her hair and turned on the water to rinse out the shampoo.

“I was thinking about getting room service,” Iris heard Tom say. She had to strain to hear him over the water streaming down her body.

“Oh, of course!” The tone of Michael’s voice told Iris that he must have heard the water and come to the realization that they were not alone in the room. His loud laugh boomed clearly over the water from the shower before he added, “Seems like you got over her then after all, huh? Good for you! Sorry to disturb you, mate!”

Moment after Iris heard the door slam closed again and silence filled the room. She took her time to finish her shower. After hearing the conversation between Michael and Tom, she needed some time to think, she didn’t feel like immediately joining Tom again. The conversation between the two men had made her think back to the previous night. 

Tom had been kind to her, but never given any indication that he was interested in her. But then again, Michael had taken up so much of her attention that she didn’t even had much time to consider Tom’s possible feelings for her. Or likewise, her feelings for Tom. Though about those last there wasn’t any doubt. She had always been attracted to Tom. He was quite the looker, a great actor and had a great, loving personality. It had never been more than a celebrity crush, but after actually spending some time with Tom she knew it could become so much more if only she got the opportunity to let her feelings develop further.

But even with that knowledge, she figured it would never happen. No matter how Michael thought Tom felt about her, she was going to leave soon and chances were quite big that she was never going to see him again. A celebrity crush, that was all Tom would ever be for her, she decided.

Eventually she finished her shower and had no other choice then to join Tom again. She tiptoed back into the room slowly, her bare toes sinking into the thick carpet on the floor. It took her a moment to locate Tom, but she found him in front of the large window, staring out at the Paris skyline. “I know it’s not London, but it’s still pretty, no?” she asked in means of making conversation.

“It is,” Tom answered. He was still standing with his back towards Iris, making it unable for her to read his expression. But if her ears heard right, there appeared to be a certain kind of sadness in his voice. Melancholy maybe, as if he was sad that he would be leaving this room behind soon. 

When he did turn around to face Iris around, there was no trace of sadness left. A bright smile on his face, Tom announced, “I ordered breakfast. Care to join me?”

Iris couldn’t help but notice that the bright smile didn’t reach up to his eyes, but she refrained commenting. Instead, she easily agreed, “Yeah, I’d like that.”

By the time the breakfast arrived the mood had changed again. Tom’s genuine smile had appeared again, making Iris feel a lot lighter too. They decided to have breakfast on the bed and did their very best not to make too much of a mess. It caused quite some laughter and they might or might not have gotten into a tiny food fight which only did not get out of hand because Iris mentioned she did not want to take another shower so soon.

Tom hadn’t mentioned the fact that Michael had stopped by earlier that morning or the conversation they had and Iris hadn’t felt the need to bring up what she heard either. She simply wanted to have a good time this morning. 

It was only when a silence fell between them that she blurted out, “So I did I hear Michael when I was in the shower earlier?” She really hadn’t meant to mention it, but her mouth clearly short-circuited from her brain to fill the silence.

Tom didn’t immediately respond. He blushed scarlet red and looked down at the croissant in his hands. Iris waited patiently for him to answer. 

“Uhm, yes. He did,” he started out slowly. After a moment of hesitation, he wanted to know, “How much of our conversation did you hear exactly?”

Putting on her most innocent face, Iris answered, “I just recognized his voice, but I didn’t really hear anything.”

Tom’s blush was gone again and he quirked an eyebrow, indicating that he didn’t believe a word of what Iris was saying. “I’ve taken showers in that bathroom before,” He said. Iris did her best to stir away from the mental image in her head. “These walls are pretty thin and the stream does not run that hard. You can clearly hear anything that is going on in this room.”

It was Iris’ turn to blush at Tom’s reaction. She had hoped that they would not come to discussing this. But there was no denying it now, so she explained, “Okay, so I heard pretty much everything. From what I gathered Michael wasn’t exactly impressed by last night, he didn’t care very much about me.”

The words came out a lot sadder than expected. They caused Tom to lean forward and pinch his hand lightly in reassurance. “And you shouldn’t care about Michael too much,” he insisted. “He’s not a bad guy, he’s great to have as a friend, but he is a big flirt. He isn’t looking to settle down, he just want to have some fun. And if the girl isn’t up for it, he moves on. It has nothing to do with you, that is just how he is.”

“And you are looking to settle down then?” Iris clasped a hand to her mouth as soon as the words had passed her lips. Her brain to mouth filter seemed to be really quite off today. Must have been the alcohol from last night. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to snoop in your personal life or anything. It’s just that I heard you talk about…” 

About me, she wanted to say. But she had promised herself earlier in the shower that she wouldn’t mention that to Tom, she didn’t want to ask about his feelings. “About it,” she said instead. “And your tone of voice indicated that you didn’t exactly agree with his lifestyle.” 

Much to Iris’ relief Tom didn’t seem to find it rude that she asked questions about his personal life and choices. He smiled when he answered, “It’s fine. I don’t mind you asking me that kind of question. Besides, I don’t exactly think it’s a secret that I want to settle down sooner rather than later. Find a nice girl, funny and intelligent. A good wife and a great mother for our children. And preferably all in the same woman.”

Iris laughed at his last comment and the mood in the room lightened again. Only for a little while though, because before silence could settle in Tom suddenly said, “Listen, this is going to sound awkward, because I was just talking about settling down and all that, but I was wondering if you were up to having dinner with me tonight?” 

For a moment Iris just stared at Tom. Silence surrounded them while they sat on the bed and Iris couldn’t do anything but stare at Tom. She would have predicted a lot of things, but she never expected such a question from Tom. 

When Iris didn’t say anything, Tom clearly felt inclined to explain himself further. “Look, I know this is coming out of nowhere. And I don’t want you to feel any pressure to say yes. I just want you to know that I would like to have dinner with you tonight, if that’s okay for you.”

“I heard you talk about me to Michael earlier.” Iris wasn’t sure why she chose this moment to bring the conversation from that morning up again, but she did anyway.

“Yeah, you already said that,” Tom confirmed. He sounded and looked confused for a moment, but then Iris saw understanding flash across his face. “You heard Michael claim that you are my type of girl and you didn’t hear me deny it.”

Iris nodded. She waited for Tom to say something else. It took him a moment to find the right words, but then he started, “Look, I know it might feel a bit awkward for you after last night. But I’m still not denying Michael’s claim. You are intelligent, funny and kind. The way you talked about your work last night made it clear you are very passionate about the things you love. That is my kind of girl.” He paused for a moment, sighed and then added, “Look, I am definitely not a one night kind of guy like Michael. But I’m also not asking you to marry me here and now. We were having a good time last night and this morning, so I figured dinner might be a nice way to spend some more time together.”

Iris stared at Tom for a little while longer. He seemed genuine. And even after the short time they had spend together, she knew he was very different from Michael.

She was about to agree, but then suddenly the image of the paparazzi from last night flashed through her mind. Her heart sunk, but she told Tom, “Look, dinner doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. But I’d rather not.” When Tom’s face fell, she added in explanation, “It has nothing to do with you, Tom. But I just had to think about those paparazzi last night. I don’t want to be known as the girl who goes from movie star to movie star.”

A smile appeared on Tom’s face again. Questioningly, he said, “Room service it is then?”

Iris couldn’t help but mirror Tom’s smile. He clearly wasn’t going to give up until she agreed. And all things considered, she wasn’t very opposed to spending another evening with Tom. So with a grin, she answered, “Yeah, room service sounds like an excellent idea.”


	3. Chapter 3

Tom had some press to do during the day, so Iris took that time to go home and freshen up a bit. She eventually reacted to Sophie’s calls that had been coming in all day and informed her about the disaster with Michael and how she hoped the night with Tom would be more pleasant. Sophie gave her a huge peptalk about how one ruined night didn’t mean anything, about how Tom was a much better fit for her, about how she wanted to hear everything to the last detail the next day. 

By the time she knocked on the door of Tom’s room again, she was ready for a pleasant, relaxed night. When Tom opened the door, she was glad to see that he apparently shared that idea. He was barefoot, wearing a fitted jeans. He clearly came just out of the shower, his hair hanging in loose curls. The fact that his shirt was a perfect fit for his toned chest was not lost on Iris.

“Do come in,” Tom said as he stepped aside to let Iris enter. Her heart made a little flutter when he leaned in after closing the door and gave her a hug and a small kiss on the cheek. 

“Drinks? I’ve got water, red wine, soda.”

“A glass of red wine would be nice,” Iris answered as she went to put her coat on one of the hangers in the open closet in the corner. 

“Wine it is,” Tom agreed. He made his way over to the bottle that was conveniently waiting on the dresser. “I asked to order some Chinese food instead of something from the room service menu. I hope that is okay for you?”

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Iris assured Tom while she made her way over to the table where she now noticed a few cartons. The smell coming from the boxes when she opened them made her mouth water and she realized how hungry she actually was.

“Someone is eager to get started,” Tom noted with a grin when he walked over with their wine and noticed that Iris had opened all boxes and was already putting food on her plate. 

“I didn’t realize I was this hungry!” Iris explained when she handed Tom his chopsticks. 

“It’s okay,” Tom laughed. “I always enjoy when a girl has a good appetite. The last girl I took on a date only ate salad. And you can take that literally. Salad nicoise without the fish, the eggs and the dressing. But then again, she also looked like she lived on vegetables and water. I don’t even know why I agreed to go with her on a date in the first place. I prefer a bit of curves on my girl.”

Tom paused when he realized Iris was staring at him, then asked, “Sorry, I’m rambling again. Too much information, right?”

“No, it’s fine,” Iris laughed before diving into her plate again to hide blush that colored her cheeks. She didn’t mention how his preference definitely pleased her, but did go over her own curves in her head. She couldn’t help but feel good about herself.

For a few moments they continued to eat in silence. Then Tom asked her a question about Paris and Iris enthusiastically started talking. The next few hours they found themselves talking about everything and nothing all at once. Iris explained to Tom that her fascination for neuroscience came from the fact that she found the brain such an incredible fascinating organ. Tom earned himself brownie points when he told that Arctic Monkeys were his favorite band.

The hours quickly passed and after dinner they simply, laughingly, moved to get comfortable on the carpet, whose softness Iris had fallen in love with during her limited time in the room. They enjoyed the dessert, a delicious moelleux au chocolat that Tom had ordered as a surprise, on there, doing their best to not make any chocolate stains on the carpet.

Long after the sun had set and the moon started shining bright, Tom excused himself to go to the bathroom. Iris used the opportunity to walk over to the window and enjoy the view of Paris by night. They were on the thirtieth floor of the hotel and the view of the city was magnificent. Iris had lived in Paris for all of her 28 years and she had seen it at night from all sorts of point of views. A boat on the Seine, on top of the Eifel Tower or just walking the streets and enjoying the scenery around her. One would think she’d grown tired of it by now, but Iris knew she would never not be amazed by the beauty of the city. Especially at night, when all the lights turned it in such a magical place. Especially from high above, when all the cars seemed to turn into ants carrying around little lights and when all the people disappeared. It looked so peaceful from above.

When Tom resurfaced from the bathroom, Iris was still staring out over the city. She was so lost in her thoughts that she only noticed his reappearance when his hands sneaked around her waist. And his head came to rest gently on top of hers. 

If it had been any other person, Iris might have felt trapped by the way he embraced her, how his entire body practically engulfed her. But not with Tom. With Tom it felt like a perfect fit. Despite the height difference. Despite him being lean and her being curvy. It simply felt right.

As if Tom was able to read her thoughts, he suddenly whispered, “So, did I mention I like my girl to have some curves?” His voice was sultry and seductive and Iris suddenly felt chills run through her spine, despite the fact that the room had felt very hot all evening.

The chills didn’t last long though. Because before Iris even had time to react to Tom’s little confession of sorts, one of his hands had moved again and his head was no longer resting on hers. Before she could properly register what was happening, Tom had gently pushed her face in the direction of his own and then his lips were on hers.

For a brief moment, Iris’ brain short-circuited. The feeling of Tom’s lips against her own made her weak in the knees and lightheaded. For a moment she had no idea how to react. 

Luckily, her brain soon caught up, mentally kicking her butt and shouting to kiss that beautiful, wonderful man back with all she had. Tom had stayed calm, patiently waiting for her to react. Iris felt the corners of his lips turn upwards when she turned around in his arms and slowly started to kiss him back. 

Last night, Iris had thought that Michael was a good kisser. And he wasn’t bad by any standards. But he was nothing, no competition what so ever, compared to Tom. Tom’s kisses were gentle. He kissed slow, lazily, clearly feeling he had all the time in the world. He took all the time he needed to let his tongue explore every corner of Iris’ mouth and he allowed her to do the same. 

It was pure bliss. Or at least it felt like that until Tom’s hands started to move again from where they had gotten lost in her hair at some point. When his hand caressed her nipple, even just over the fabric, Iris froze up a bit. She hadn’t intended to, but she couldn’t help herself. After last night, she was even less inclined to lose her virginity any time soon and she didn’t want to give Tom any wrong ideas. 

She was sure that Tom had felt her stiffen. But he didn’t make any move to stop. Instead, his hands started to move slower, indicating to Iris that he wanted to give her all the time she needed. He kept kissing her slowly and let her indicate the pace. 

Iris had no idea how long they stood there like that, but eventually she managed to relax again. Her hands started to travel across Tom’s body too. Mapping him through his clothes. She felt at ease and certain that Tom would take care of her. 

And then Tom’s mouth searched the pulse point just above her collar bone and one of his hands reached behind her to unzip her dress. As soon as she heard the sound of the zipper, Iris completely blocked again. She didn’t just freeze, she actually pushed Tom’s hands away and took a step back. 

“Wait, stop,” she whispered. The words came out barely audible, but Tom immediately listened. He stepped away from her as the words left her mouth. Iris made a mental note of appreciation for his actions. 

“Are you okay?” Tom’s voice sounded so worried, so full of concern, that Iris almost wanted to cry. The disaster with Michael from the previous night played through her head again. And she immediately decided that Tom deserved better than this. He needed to know that this had nothing to do with him, but everything with her.

Iris took another few steps back and sat down on the bed. After a sigh, she said, “Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay. I just need to be honest with you.”

She didn’t need to look at Tom to hear the doubt, the confusion in his voice. “Honest?” he asked. And that simple word was enough to tell Iris that he thought he was causing trouble her, while this was not his fault whatsoever.

“It’s has nothing… It’s not you, it’s me,” Iris started to explain. The moment the words had left her mouth she grimaced. They had sounded a lot better in her head.

She expected Tom to say something, but he didn’t. He stood by the window, looking a bit helpless, but patiently waiting for her to explain further.

Another sigh, a moment to look for the right words, and then she said, “Look Tom, there was something I didn’t mention when you asked about my time with Michael last night. I’m not the girl to start a fling with, I’m not a one night stand kind of girl. That much is true. But that wasn’t the exact reason that I ran out on Michael. When we were fooling around and undressed and I saw him grab a condom I… I kind of freaked out badly. Because it only seemed to down on me in that moment what was about to happen. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I completely panicked. Because I didn’t want it to be like that. I always had this romantic notion of it and it just didn’t feel right… Michael didn’t feel like the right person to lose my virginity too.”

The silence that followed Iris’ confession was, as people like to say, deafening. Iris knew that Tom was staring at her from his spot at the window, but she refused to look up at him. She couldn’t bring herself to look, she was not ready for the disappointment that she expected to see in his eyes. 

And yet, things felt different from last night. She didn’t have the urge to run away. Her confession embarrassed her, but it didn’t make her want to run away from Tom and never look back. She simply stayed in place in silence. After what seemed like hours, but was probably only minutes, Iris felt the bed beside her dip. She still couldn’t look at Tom and continued to stare at her fidgeting hands in her lap. 

Another few minutes passed and then Tom’s hand reached out to cover Iris’ in her lap. She stopped fidgeting and waited. She felt herself stiffen, ready to flinch at his reaction. 

Much to her surprise, his first words were, “Look at me, please.” Gentle, quiet. A request, not a demand.

Iris felt inclined to grant his request. Slowly, she turned and raised her head to look at Tom. When she finally looked into his eyes, she was surprised again. There was no disappointment, no anger because Iris had stopped him just when things got heated. He looked confused, questions evident in his eyes.

Until that moment, Iris hadn’t felt the urge to run. But when she looked in Tom’s eyes, things changed. He looked genuinely confused. As if he couldn’t see any reason why Iris was still a virgin. He didn’t look disappointed, but Iris felt like she had severely disappointed him. He had been so kind to her and yet she couldn’t open up herself to him. 

So she did what she was quickly becoming a master in: she decided to run. Things had already gotten too awkward, she decided to leave before they got worse. She detached her hands from Tom’s, got up from the bed and told him, “I’m sorry, I think I should go.”

For a moment it looked like Iris would get away with her stunt again. But when she was grabbing her coat, Tom was behind her. His hand covered hers again while he quietly said, “Stop.”

Tom’s last two sentences had been requests. Yet he didn’t come across as dominating. He never raised his voice, and Iris always knew she had the option to leave, that he would not get mad if she decided to ignore him.

But it was Tom, and she couldn’t simply walk away. She did stop, started out, “Tom, I-“ before she got interrupted again.

“No. Don’t tell me to stop.” Again his tone was firm, but not domineering. His hand closed around her more strongly and he tore it away from her coat. 

After he had turned Iris around and she was forced to face him, he continued, “I’m not Michael, darling. I am not just going to let you walk out on me. I do want to talk about this.”

Iris almost snorted. Talk about it. There was nothing to talk about, she wanted to say. Instead she said, “Well I don’t.”

“Then all you need to do is listen. I swear, just listen to me. And when I’m done talking you still want to leave, then I’ll let you walk out. But I want you to listen to me first.”

Iris sighed. She was quickly learning that Tom was a lot of amazing things, but he was also stubborn. He was not going to let this go until she agreed to listen to him. She sighed, freed herself from Tom’s hand and went to sit on the couch in the corner of the room. “Fine, I’m listening.”

Tom looked at her, stared at her for a moment, as if he wanted to make sure that she was not going to make another attempt to run when he let his guard down for a split second. When he realized that Iris was not going to move anymore, he walked over to the couch too and sat down next to her. Iris took notice of the fact that he didn’t try to touch her in any way, she appreciated the gesture.

He scratched his head lightly, as if he was looking for the rights words to say to Iris. “Look, I am surprised, okay?” he confessed after a moment. “You are not a sixteen year old girl, we are both adults here. You are a young woman. Beautiful, funny, intelligent. This is not something I was expecting from a woman like you, but that doesn’t mean a thing. And if there is a certain reason why you are still a virgin, is something happened, if someone hurt you, I hope you know you can tell me that. We can talk about that if you want, but we don’t have to. But if it is just because, without any particular reason, because you haven’t found the right guy yet and you want to wait to lose your virginity to someone you know you love, someone that loves you back, then that’s okay too. You don’t owe me or anybody but yourself any explanation.”

Tom paused for a moment to take a deep breath. This time he did move closer to Iris and grabbed her hands in his. He made sure she was looking at him before he talked further, “But all this, my darling Iris, all this doesn’t change a thing about how I feel about you. I’ve gotten to know you a bit better now and I would like to get to know you even better. I definitely want to spend more time with you and want to give you a chance to do the same. But I’m not expecting anything from you, please don’t think you owe me anything. If you allow me to spend more time with me, we will take things slow. I promise I will not pressure you into anything. We’ll do this at your pace. Who knows, maybe things don’t work out. But if you are willing to figure things out with me and if we have sex eventually, we will do so when you are ready. Your limits, your terms, all the time you need.” 

Tom stopped talking after that, leaving Iris blushing like a fool. She wanted to cry, even though she wasn’t at all sad. Tom just told her everything she had ever hoped to hear from a guy. She wished she was as eloquent as him and could tell him how much this little speech meant to her. “How did I get so lucky to meet a guy like you?” she eventually chose to voice her thoughts.

Tom actually laughed out loud at her reaction. It wasn’t a laugh to hurt her, but one that was full of relief. He understood from her one little sentence that she was okay, that they were going to be okay and give this a try. Still laughing, he pulled her in his arms. “I could ask the same question back to you,” he whispered against her hair before he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

The rest of the night felt pretty perfect. Tom let Iris take the lead. They watched a movie together, they kissed. A lot, slowly, lazily, because they had all the time in the world. In the early hours of the morning Tom suggested to have the hotel call a cab for Iris. She looked at him for a few seconds and then declined. She was sure, she trusted Tom to take care of her, to let her set the limits. She fell asleep in his arms that night. 

The next morning Iris got awoken by the sunlight coming through the window. It took her a moment to realize it was Sunday and she was in Tom’s hotel room. It took another moment to realize that Tom wasn’t sleeping next to her anymore.

She listened, but the only sound she heard was a door falling closed somewhere down the hall. Tom was not anywhere in the room and he also wasn’t in the bathroom. 

Iris felt her throat constrict, panic rising that Tom had just left her behind. Then her eye fell on a paper on the dresser. She got up slowly, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she made her way to pick up the paper. 

It turned out Tom had left her a note.   
_My darling,_  
 _I am so sorry you have to wake up alone. I got a call from my agent this morning about doing an interview I had completely forgotten about. You looked so beautiful and peaceful sleeping, I did not want to wake you._  
 _Feel free to order whatever you want for breakfast and just have them put it on my bill._  
 _I hope to see you again tonight. Call me to arrange the details._  
 _Much love,_  
 _Tom._

Underneath the note a phone number was scribbled. Tom Hiddleston’s phone number. If someone would have told her a week ago, or even just a few days ago, that she would be holding Tom Hiddleston’s phone number, she might just have peed her pants laughing. 

But here she was, not only holding Tom’s phone number in her hand, but also in the room where they had spend the night together. She had most definitely woken up in worse situations.

As it was Sunday, Iris decided to spoil herself by ordering pancakes for breakfast, accompanied with some delicious hot chocolate. She took a long hot shower testing all the products the hotel provided before getting dressed. She left a note for Tom to thank him for the wonderful night and with a promise to call him later to arrange the details of their meeting later tonight. A meeting, she made sure to point out, that she was looking forward to very much.

On her way out of the hotel, Iris checked her phone. She texted Sophie back to tell her that she would be calling her later. She answered a facebook message from an old friend. Briefly looked through her emails.

By the time she stepped on the subway, she was scrolling through her notifications on twitter. She stopped dead in her tracks when a particular one caught her attention. The person behind her grumbled loudly after he walked straight into her. 

“Sorry, sorry,” Iris quickly apologized as she walked on and found a spot to sit. As soon as her bum hit the seat, she looked at her phone again to check if she had seen right. A smile spread across her face when she noticed she had actually read correctly. 

It was always a treat when Tom tweeted, because it happened so rarely. But this one was extra special for Iris. @twhiddleston tweeted: “The closest to heaven that I’ll ever be. Song of the Day: “Iris”, by the Goo Goo Dolls.”

As she hit the favorite button, Iris knew that this would be a tweet she would be cherishing forever. And once again she couldn’t help but wonder how on earth she had gotten so lucky to meet a man like Tom and what she had done to deserve him.


	4. Chapter 4

The last evening Iris spend with Tom in Paris was flawless and lovely and she had been sad to see it end. But in the following weeks Tom continued the promo tour for his and Michael’s newest movie. It meant saying goodbye to Iris, but it also lead to a whole load of text messages and skype calls. Iris spend hours in her room talking through Tom via her computer screen while he was somewhere on the other side of the world. She came home several times to find a bouquet of fresh flowers on her doorstep and after a couple of days she would start finding postcards in the mail every day, from all the places that Tom was visiting. 

And somewhere between the opera hall in Sydney and the Statue of Liberty in New York, Iris realized that the unexpected was happening. She was slowly but surely falling in love with Tom Hiddleston. Deeply and unconditionally. And as Iris had gotten to know Tom as time passed, she was confident he felt the same way too. 

Then, two months after Tom left Paris, the question came. During one of their Skype sessions, with Tom in a hotel room in LA and Iris on her balcony in Paris, Tom asked, “I’ll be home in another two weeks. I want you to come visit me in London.”

The idea of visiting London excited Iris, because it meant that she would be able to spend time with Tom. To touch him, smell him, hold him close again. She longed for his closeness. But at the same time the idea scared her. Because she knew what would happen if she saw Tom again. He had nothing but kind, patient and caring, never even once throwing her virginity back in Iris’ face. But she knew in London things would become different, would become a whole new situation.

They both knew what this meant, what the implications of Tom’s request were. But when Tom stared at her through the screen, his big blue eyes blinking at her, Iris did not even consider declining his request. “I would love that,” she told him instead.  
And so Iris found herself walking through Heathrow airport exactly two weeks later. She made her way through the security check as quick as possible, longing to see Tom again. She pictured a scene like in the movies. Locking eyes with Tom, dropping her suitcase, running towards him in slow motion and jumping into his waiting arms. 

She was slightly disappointed when she didn’t see Tom standing at the gates, but instead was greeted by an older man holding a sign with her last name on it. 

“Miss Iris?” The man questioned when she walked up to him with a frown on her face. She slowly nodded, which urged him to say, “I’ll be your driver today, miss. And mister Hiddleston asked me to give you this.”

Iris couldn’t help but smile when the man handed her a single red rose with a note attached to it. “Thank you!” she said before smelling the flower. 

The man took over her suitcase and motioned for Iris to follow him. As they made their way through the airport, Iris read the note that Tom had written her.

_My darling Iris,_   
_My sincere apologies that I am not at the airport to pick you up. It is not that I do not want to be seen with you, but I remembered how you disliked the paparazzi during my last visit in Paris. Hence, I thought it was best to send a cab to pick you up._   
_I’ll look forward to holding you, kissing you again._   
_See you soon, darling!_   
_Much love,_   
_Tom_

Iris ‘ mood was giddy and uplifted as she made the cab made its way through the London traffic. It took them almost an hour to reach the address Tom had given the driver, but Iris didn’t mind sitting in the car for so long. She had been in London several times and she never got tired of watching the buzzling city around her. She had been a lot of places, seen a lot of faces, but after Paris, London was definitely her favorite city in the world.

When she eventually arrived at a quiet street in the south of London, just below the Thames, she barely had time to get out of the cab before Tom was out the door. In his hands he was holding another bouquet of flowers, of which Iris guessed the red rose had been a part of. 

“I hope you have a vase somewhere in your apartment!” she laughed when Tom handed her the flowers with a hug smile plastered across his face. The stars in his eyes made her blush lightly. Even though she was sure the same look was mirrored on her own face.

She didn’t get much time to say anything else. The next moment Tom was hugging her, pulling her against his chest as tight as seemed possible. Iris did her best to hug him just as tightly.

“Sorry I wasn’t at the airport!” Tom whispered in her ear without releasing her.  
“It’s okay,” Iris whispered back. “Thank you for remembering. Thank you for caring.”

And then she did what she had wanted to do ever since Tom asked her to come visit him in London. She kissed him, planted one right on his lips. Back in Paris she had cared about what people would think if they would see her with Michael one night and Tom the next. But months had passed and she couldn’t deny what she felt for Tom. She didn’t want to deny it and she didn’t care who saw it. So she kissed him. 

Luckily Tom didn’t mind. He eagerly pulled her closer, if that was possible, and kissed her right back. Iris mirrored his expression when she felt Tom’s lips turn into a smile. They kissed slowly, lazily, taking their time and not caring who might see them. 

It was only when the cab driver coughed that they eventually, reluctantly, broke apart. Tom kept her close, refusing to let his arm leave her shoulder, while he paid the cab driver. Iris enjoyed every minute of it.

Inside, Tom announced that he would take Iris’ suitcase to the bedroom. Iris nodded silently, it was an unspoken fact that they would be sleeping in the same bed. 

While Tom was bringing away her suitcase, Iris took her time to look around the rest of the apartment. The interior was modern, but with a warm touch. Lots of wood and warm colors. Tom’s passions were clearly present in the living room in the form of books, pictures and music. Iris smiled when she passed a stack of books, all on the topic of Shakespeare. Typical Tom. 

After giving herself a tour of the living room, Iris curiously moved on to the kitchen. At first glance, she was impressed by how well equipped it was. An huge oven, an expresso machine, a steam cooker. A brick barbeque just outside the window. And then she noticed the bags on the far counter, at about the same moment as the smell coming from them hit her nostrils. She couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“What’s so funny?” 

Tom’s voice made Iris jump in surprise. She had been so engrossed in taking in her new surroundings that she didn’t even hear him come in again. With a smile, she turned around and explained, “I was impressed by your kitchen. And then I noticed the take out bags on the counter.” She grinned, then added, “Have you ever even cooked in here?”

Laughing out loud Tom stepped closer and wrapped his arms around Iris, trapping her in place. “I did actually cook in here before, you smartass.” One hand gently pinched one of Iris’ buttcheeks, as if to emphasis the word ass. “But I just arrived back home yesterday evening. I didn’t exactly have time yet to go grocery shopping, so there is barely any food in this house.”

“Whatever you say,” Iris teased him.

Tom simply smiled at her words and said, “Besides, you need to taste Thai at least once when you are in London. You won’t find any better anywhere in the world. And also, I liked the takeout we had last time we were together, so I thought: why not make it a tradition?”

“Honestly, I’m not one to complain about food. Especially not at this moment. I barely had time to eat this morning before I had to leave for the airport and I haven’t eaten since.” As if to emphasis it, a rumble came loudly from Iris’ stomach.

“Well aren’t you the romantic!” Tom laughed while he released Iris and went to take some plates from one of the cupboards.

After letting out a small giggle, Iris grabbed the take out from the counter and set out to open all the boxes while Tom brought the plates to the table. The more boxes she opened, the more she was inclined to agree with Tom: she may not have tasted it yet, but the food smelled divine.

Soon after, she decided to definitely agree with Tom. After only one bite she already knew that it not just smelled divine, but tasted even better. She briefly wondered how she had ever lived without something so delicious on her plate.

She voiced her thoughts to Tom, who grinned and got out an I told you so. He then continued to explain how he had found the place the evening that he had come back from filming Unrelated in Italy. Just like this evening, because he had been gone for so long, there was no food in the house. Or well, no food that was eatable anymore. He had learned his lesson after that trip, never keep food if you’ll be gone for long periods of time. He had gone out in search of food and ended up coming across a Thai take out place that looked like it was just about ready to be shut down. He had doubted, but seeing as it was late at night and he didn’t know the neighborhood yet because he had moved into his apartment just before leaving for filming, he had decided to take the risk. And lo and behold, the food had turned out to be absolutely marvelous. It had been the first little gemstone, not crowded by tourists, that he discovered in his neighborhood and it would always have a special place in his heart. 

Tom continued to talk about how much he had grown to love the neighborhood he lived in. At first it had been mostly annoying, seeing as he was far away from his favorite Regent Park and his family and a lot of his close friends, all located in the North of London. But after the Thai place he discovered a quaint little coffee shop he now like to frequent during his time off, a small library that somehow had most of his favorites and an old cinema that played nothing but classics in black and white. His neighborhood was quiet, peaceful and over time had become a real home. A place he could see himself raise his children.

Iris didn’t say much during the dinner. Aside from enjoying the delicious Thai food, she simply liked to listen to Tom. The passion that radiated from him while he talked about the place he had grown to love so much was such a beautiful sight to see. He rambled when he was enthusiastic and the happiness almost literally radiated from his face. So Iris was content to let him talk, only every now and then interrupting with an opinion of her own. 

And she found herself realizing that she was completely at ease. It felt so natural. Even after such a short time, coming here, being here with Tom, it felt like home.

They ate dinner slowly, savoring the food and each other’s company. Multiple hours passed while they talked and ate, so by the time they finished it was already dark outside. When Tom excused himself to go to the bathroom, Iris got up from the table as well and made her way over to the large windows at the back of the apartment. She smiled as soon as she caught a glimpse of the nightly London skyline and quickly moved closer to see as much of it as possible. Such a magnificent, magical view. Though nothing would ever, could ever top Paris by night for her, this was definitely a close second.

“Is it prettier than Paris?” Tom, who seemed to be able to read her thoughts, wanted to know when he came back from the bathroom and wrapped his arms around Iris’ waist.

Unlike during their night together in Paris, Iris didn’t feel chills run through her spine at Tom’s touch. Instead, a warmth filled her body and without even realizing it, she copied his movement. Her arms came up to cover his and her fingers gently rubbed circles, random patterns, across them. “It’s different,” she answered Tom’s question. “Paris will always be my number one, but you really can’t compare the two.”

They stood in silence for a while. Both staring at the London skyline, both lost in their own thoughts. It seemed like a great length of time to Iris, but it was probably only a few minutes before she realized, “We always seem to end up here, don’t we?”

Tom murmured a bit in response. It confused Iris and she looked up with a frown. As soon as she did, understanding downed on her face. His attention was no longer on the city outside, he was now clearly focused on her. Enough focus on her to send those chills down her spine that weren’t there earlier.

Her body’s reaction cause a smile to appear on Tom’s face. He didn’t say anything more, but instead bent down to attach his lips to Iris’ neck while his hands set on her hips. Gently nibbling while Iris turned in his arms, he made his way to her mouth. In seconds his lips were covering hers.

As with their previous kisses, Tom took his time. Prying open her lips, exploring her mouth and mapping every inch of it. He took the lead, but he let Iris decide their pace. 

They had been standing there in front of the window kissing for quite some time when Iris noticed a change. She caught on to the fact that things were getting more heated. Tom’s kisses were no longer gentle, they felt more hungry. More passionate too. 

At the same time as Iris realized the change in the atmosphere, Tom’s hands started slowly moving. One moved upwards to get lost in Iris’ hair. It put a light pressure on her head, pulling her, if possible, even closer against Tom’s lips. The other one went from her hip to her lower back, before moving on to her butt. It started another mapping excursion, getting to know every curve and dimple of Iris’ body.

It was obvious even to Iris, with her limited experience, that Tom was feeling her up. It would have felt threatening to her before, but the dynamic between the two of them had changed, grown since they had first met. Iris had allowed herself to trust Tom and this moment learned her it had been the correct decision. Tom was feeling her up, but he was still letting her set the pace. Iris knew that if she wanted him to stop, she only had to say so. But she didn’t. She let Tom take his time to explore her body, while her own hands unsteadily moved across his. 

Tom behaved like the perfect gentleman. His fingers never even dipped below the seam of her jeans or under her shirt. So when Iris felt his hard on press against her leg, she knew that it was up to her to decide if she wanted to move things further. 

The instant that realization hit her, Iris almost froze. Almost, because somehow she managed to keep up with Tom’s lazy pace as thoughts rushed through her head. This could be the moment and it was up to her to decide. She knew Tom wouldn’t hold it against her if she decided to stop him. He was patient, he cared for her and he was willing to wait until she was ready. 

Tom would never push her into doing things she did not want to do. But when she took a step closer to him, accidentally rubbing against his erection, and he groaned into her mouth, Iris knew that she was going to push herself. But not into something she didn’t want. Instead, into something that she had longed for so long, but never found the right person for. Into something that she was finally ready for, with the perfect person at her side. 

Iris felt confident when she moved her hands to the front of Tom’s shirt. She never broke their kiss, took her time. She fumbled with the buttons of Tom’s shirt to open them, but it didn’t feel embarrassing.

At least not until Tom stopped her. “Wait,” he told her.

The moment his lips left hers and the words left her mouth, Iris felt her face flush. She felt cold without his warm lips against hers. And she felt stupid for her attempt at taking charge, doubting everything she thought she had known so clear. 

She took a step back, wanted to detach herself completely from Tom. To her surprise, Tom was having none of it. He grabbed her wrists with both hands and pulled her close against him again. “Look at me, please,” he requested. When Iris found the courage to actually look him in the eye, he said nothing for a brief moment. Then he wanted to know, “Are you sure?”

A breath she didn’t know she was holding in escaped through Iris’ lips now that she understood correctly why Tom had stopped her. With a smile and a voice full of confidence, she answered him, “Yes Tom. I am sure that I want this.”

Tom’s face stayed serious, but Iris could see, could feel that he had relaxed. His whole body was at ease now that she had confirmed that this was okay. “Alright,” he said. “But we are going to do this properly then.”

The words brought a frown to Iris’ face and confusion filled her head. It was only when Tom let her wrists fall to her side again and grabbed one of her hands, pulled her away from the window, that she understood. He was leading her to the bedroom.

Tom’s bedroom was quite big, with another big window currently hid behind large, linen curtains. Iris took the time to look around while Tom went to put on some light on the bedside tables. She noticed a small sofa next to a dark wooden dresser. To the side, a door that was half open and appeared to be leading to the on suite bathroom. Tom’s robe was hanging on a small hook. But what mostly caught her attention was a big, soft looking bed covered in satin sheets that looked incredibly comfortable.

Iris was so busy looking around in the room that she didn’t even notice Tom come closer again. It was only when he gently put a kiss on the side of her neck that her undivided attention shifted. Immediately all focus was on Tom again.

For a few moments it seemed that Tom again had all the time in the world, as his lips claimed Iris’ again. But all too soon it became clear that Tom had wasn’t as patient anymore now that he knew Iris was up for this. His kisses became more urgent, more demanding. Iris gave him the best she had in return and was rewarded with a growl. 

Somewhere in during their heated kisses Iris had managed to get the edge of Tom’s shirt out of his pants. When her hands dipped under it and made contact with Tom’s bare skin, he jumped a bit forward in reaction to the cold of her hands. It caused Iris’ right leg to become trapped between his and pressed against his erection. Before she could even consciously register it, the feeling of him pressed hard against her already caused her to let out a moan. 

The sound was enough for Tom to detach his lips from hers. When their eyes met, Tom shot her a breathtaking smile. Then his lips moved again, crashing against the skin just above Iris’ collar bone, exposed by the shirt she was wearing. At the same time his hands started working on the buttons of her shirt. He moved slowly, giving Iris every chance to say no or to stop him. When she instead returned his gesture and reached for the buttons of his button down shirt, she could feel his mouth form a smile against the skin he was lightly sucking on. 

When both their shirts were sent twirling onto the floor, hands moved to buttons on jean pants, to leather belts. This was the first time they were doing this together, but their hands seemed to be almost in unison, completely aware of the pattern the other person’s hands were following. 

Tom’s shoes had been gone since his stop in the bathroom earlier that evening, so he quickly got rid of his pants when they were pushed to his ankles by Iris. In return he took of her shoes, threw them to a far corner of the room and then helped her step out of her jeans, making sure she didn’t get caught and fell over. A true gentleman in every situation. 

As soon as all their clothes were lost, the pair only still in their underwear, Tom took Iris by the hand and lead her over to that very comfortable bed. “Lay down,” he requested after pulling aside the covers. Iris gladly did as he asked. 

She didn’t get any time to feel uncomfortable or embarrassed about her naked body and Tom staring at her from his still standing position. “You look beautiful,” he told her as soon as her back had made contact with the mattress.

“Thank you,” she whispered back. “You don’t look to bad yourself.” 

The response made Tom throw his back in laughter. The next moment the mattress dipped as he layed down next to her. He pressed a quick kiss against her lips before he moved on to her collar bone again. Iris knew that this was quickly becoming a favorite spot for both of them.

While Iris was distracted by Tom’s lips against her skin, he reached behind her back to unclasp her bra. He was clearly a lot more experienced in this than she was, as he was able to unclasp it with one hand. 

The bra joined the rest of their clothes on the floor somewhere. As soon as the skin of her breasts was exposed, Tom’s hands moved down to caress them. When his thumb graced one of her nipples, goose bumps appeared all over Iris’ skin. 

His hands softly kneaded the soft flesh of her breasts before moving downward. Iris started squirming when Tom’s fingers moved over her side and her stomach. A small giggle escaped her mouth, telling Tom how ticklish she was there. He grinned against her collar bone and started taking full advantage of it. He quickly moved his fingers up and down her sides, like spiderlegs, making her laugh out loud. Iris relished the feeling, made a mental note to never forget how Tom did his very best to make her first time relaxed and show her how much he cared about her.

Just as the thought had struck her, Tom’s hands moved downward again and stopped against her hips, gently pushing her against the mattress. The movement stilled Iris again and while she was trying to catch her breath Tom took the opportunity to move his lips from her collar bone to her nipples. 

Tom’s fingers slipped below the seam of her panties at the same moment his tongue stuck out of his mouth and swirled over Iris’ right nipple. She immediately bucked her hips up in reaction, but Tom’s hands were still in place on her hips and kept her firm against the mattress. 

For a while Tom continued to tease her. His hands on her hips with his thumbs drawing random figures against the skin just below the seam of her panties. His lips sucking her nipples, switching between the two, with his tongue swirling over the tips every now and then and his teeth lightly biting down between licks.

Eventually Tom’s hands moved again. He slowly went to take off Iris’ panties and Iris eagerly lifted her hips to make it easier. The panties were dropped on the floor amidst the rest of their clothing.

After a last lick at her nipple, his lips left Iris’ body. Tom sat up a bit and took a moment to look her up and down. “Gorgeous,” he said with a nod, a smile gracing his features. The look on his face gave Iris shivers. It felt like Tom was about to ravish her, eat her alive. 

She quickly realized the impression wasn’t too farfetched, as Tom suddenly inserted one of his fingers into her pussy and started moving it in and out of her. Iris’ eyes slipped closed. She threw her head back and let out a moan when Tom’s thumb brushed over her clit. 

She could hear Tom grin and not too long after another finger slipped into her. The way Tom’s long and slender fingers moved in and out of her, slowly speeding up, was a huge turn on. Iris could feel herself getting wet , which became also clear from the sliding noises that Tom’s fingers made. And if Tom’s breathing was any indication, he was definitely turned on as well.

The way Tom’s fingers moved inside her felt like pure bliss. And when he bent down to suck her nipples again, Iris couldn’t help but buck her hips again. Luckily for Tom, one of his lower arms was placed on her lower abdomen, keeping her in place against the mattress. He retaliated with a few quick strokes over her clit, earning him another loud moan.

Iris could slowly feel an orgasm start to build up. The feeling excited her, the knowledge that this would be the first time another person would make her go over the edge. Understandably, she whimpered when Tom’s fingers suddenly left her body, when the cold hit her erect nipples. 

The sound earned her a loud laugh from Tom. “Calm down, darling,” he instructed her. “And don’t worry, I’m nowhere near finished with you just yet.”

The bed dipped again and Iris slowly opened her eyes. She saw Tom standing next to the bed. He was pushing down his boxers and at the same time bending down to grab something from drawer of the bedside table. 

When he tore open the wrapper, Iris realized Tom had grabbed a condom. She watched as he stroked himself a few times and then rolled the condom onto himself. He slowly stroked himself a few more times after that, all the while keeping his eyes locked with Iris’. 

His little show turned Iris on even more, but at the same time she couldn’t help but be a bit intimidated. From all her long nights spend on the internet, she knew there was a lot of speculation about Tom’s size in the fandom. And she could now in person confirm that the guesses that were floating around on the web weren’t too farfetched. Tom was definitely well endowed. The size of his erection made Iris’ nerves pop back up again. She swallowed visibly.

With a lazy grin spread on his face, Tom layed down beside her again. He obviously could tell that Iris’ nerves had resurfaced, as the first thing he said to her was, “Relax, darling. I can’t promise you it won’t hurt, but I do promise that I will take my time, that I will listen to you and your body and that I’ll do my very best to make this enjoyable for you.” All the while his fingers were drawing random figures all across her body. 

“Okay,” Iris managed to squeak out. After clearing her throat, she added, “I trust you, Tom.”

“Thank you. I’ll be sure not to do anything to lose that trust,” Tom ensured her.

His hand never left her body. He bend down to kiss her mouth again, giving Iris time to adapt to the idea of what was about to happen, giving her time to make sure she was ready. His fingers briefly dipped into her pussy again and Iris knew he was assuring himself too that she was actually ready for this. 

The next moment, Tom moved and was hovering above her. He was supporting himself on one arm. Iris felt how one of his hands was between them, positioning his erection against her entrance. And then he was sliding into her. Slowly, gently, giving her enough time to adjust.

Iris wasn’t sure what she had expected. She had used toys before to pleasure herself, but the feeling of Tom inside her was so different. She felt so full and slightly uncomfortable. Luckily, and thanks to Tom’s thorough preparation, it didn’t hurt as much as she had expected, had anticipated.

When Tom was buried to the hilt, he stopped moving. Iris searched his eyes and found him staring right back at her. She knew he was trying to estimate if and how much she was hurting. “Relax, love,” he told her. It caused her to let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding in.

“How do you feel?” Tom’s voice sounded worried and the look in his eyes told Iris he wanted to make completely sure that she was doing okay.

“I’m okay,” Iris assured him. “Not as painful as I expected. Just a bit full.” Her choice of words caused a giggle to erupt from her own mouth.

Tom smiled and it was Iris’ turn to feel him relax a bit now. “Good. I’m going to start moving now. Please tell me if it hurts.”

Iris nodded in understanding. For a moment nothing happened. Then Tom started moving, slowly going in and out of her. Iris focused on her breathing for a moment. The movements hurt more than Tom just staying still inside her. Focusing on breathing in and out at the same rhythm as Tom’s trusts helped her relax.

At first her fingernails dug into the sheets. When the pain subsided and she started getting used to Tom’s trusts, her hands moved to Tom’s back. Her fingernails racked up and down, leaving dark lines in Tom’s skin. It earned her a growl from Tom, who apparently enjoyed the feeling.

Tom clearly took the feeling of her nails against his back and her labored breathing as signs that she was feeling okay, that she was actually enjoying this. He bend down to give Iris a breathy open mouthed kiss. At the same time he started building up the pace of his trusts, moving faster and faster until he had created a steady rhythm. 

After a while Iris realized that she had unconsciously started meeting Tom’s trusts. Moving her hips up and down they started to created a pattern until they were moving in unison. One of the few things that Iris could still register was their bodies moving together. Skin on skin separated by a thin, shiny layer of sweat.

Eventually Tom broke their kiss again. His breathing was heavier now, labored. His trusts had become erratic, losing their steady rhythm. Iris knew enough about sex to know that he was close and wouldn’t last very much longer.

Tom confirmed her thoughts when he shifted his body so that he was leaning on one forearm to support himself and used the other to reach between them and flick his thumb over Iris’ clit. 

The sensation of Tom’s erection moving inside her together with his thumb flicking over her clit was almost overwhelming. Her nailed pinched into Tom’s back at the feeling. He hissed, but didn’t stop his movements. Almost immediately she felt heat pool up in her lower abdomen. It didn’t take her long to fall over the edge, moaning out Tom’s name. 

It was the best orgasm she had had in a very long time. Using her toys or her fingers just wasn’t the same. Never before had she thrown back her head in bliss or curled her toes as the wave of pleasure coursed through her body. 

Her walls clenched around Tom and it wasn’t long until his hips started stuttering and he moaned out her name. The pleasure that sounded through his voice made Iris very happy. She felt a sense of pride at the thought that it was her that had just made Tom sound so perfectly beautiful. 

After riding out his orgasm Tom had just enough strength left to pull out of her and collapse besides her. For a while the only sound that could be heard was the sound of their breaths. Heavy breathing that eventually calmed down again as they both were able to catch their breath.

After laying next to each other in silence for a while, Tom lifted himself sideways, leaning on one elbow. He stared at Iris and with a smile playing on his lips, he wanted to know, “So, did you enjoy it? How did I do?”

Iris looked up and shot his a mischievous grin. In a teasing voice she answered him, “Well, I obviously have no one to compare you with, so you might as well have sucked. But, all in all I’d say I am pretty satisfied.”

Tom laughed out loud and the sound sounded like music in Iris’ ears. It felt so good that they were able to just lay here naked next to each other, joking and teasing without being embarrassed. Being so at ease with Tom felt great. 

“Well, this is only the beginning, love. I have a few more tricks up my sleeve and I’ll make sure to learn you some interesting things as we go along.”

Iris nodded in agreement. “That sounds like a great plan. But maybe we shouldn’t do that tonight. Honestly, I’m exhausted. I clearly need to get in better shape, work on my stamina more.”

“Not tonight,” Tom agreed with a smile. He stared at Iris for a moment, as if trying to weigh his next words and her reaction to them. And then he said, “I love you.”

The words surprised Iris. They arrived so early in their relationship, which had even officially been labeled as such. One could say that Tom had spit them out in post-orgasmic bliss. 

But although surprised, Iris wasn’t taken aback by them. The words, the timing felt just right. Just like this whole evening felt right. And, she didn’t hesitate to whisper, “I love you too,” right before drifting asleep in Tom’s arms.


End file.
